According to the One Night Count, over 2,800 people are surviving on the streets of Seattle each night. With the shelter system at capacity, the City has shown little compassion toward people who sleep outside.

City workers have been engaging in sweeps of greenbelts, parks, underpasses, and other public lands inhabited by homeless people. Workers routinely post a no camping ordinance, giving folks under 100 hours to clear out all of their belongings and find another place to stay. After this time, City workers, sometimes in hazmat suits, come through bagging up all remaining items, putting much of it directly into a refuse truck. Tents, sleeping bags, construction equipment, medications, family photos – nothing is safe.

Shelter beds are scarce, funding for social and human services
scant, and the City continues to chase homeless people from one park to the next, confiscating their survival gear and personal belongings along the way. Real Change Organizing Project’s Stop the Sweeps campaign works to end harassment towards the homeless.We believe that survival is a civil
right.

RCOP holds overnight camp-outs at City Hall in protest of this policy. Join us this December to take this issue to the Mayor’s doorstep, and demand a stop to the sweeps.